The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers

at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument
(some history and photos)
May 14, 2009

The Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was established by Congress in 1982 to protect natural features and processes and provide access for recreation, research and education. It is internationally renowned for the study of earth processes and ecosystem recovery following large-scale disturbance.

Below: Lee Duquette, the snow alongside the road, and several small waterfalls glistening down the mountainside.




May 18, 1980 Eruption Facts
At 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake shook Mount St. Helens, triggering a massive explosion.
The release of gases trapped inside the volcano sent 1,300 vertical feet of mountaintop rocketing outward to the north. Where did the top of the volcano go? Not up in ash, but down into the valleys below.
The mountain lost 1,300 feet of height and 0.67 cubic miles of total volume.
Super heated ash roared 60,000 feet into a cloudless blue sky - winds reached 670 miles per hour and temperatures reached 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
The eruption leveled 230-square miles of forest in less than ten (10) minutes.
The eruption began with a massive landslide (debris avalanche) that buried 14 miles of river valley to an average depth of 150 feet.
The landslide released trapped magma and gas, producing a sideways explosion (lateral blast) of hot rock and ash killing trees up to 17 miles north of the volcano.
Cement-like slurries of glacial melt water and boulders scoured and buried streams draining the volcano.
A vertical ash eruption rose to a height of 15-miles above the crater and continued for 9-hours. Ash drifted to the northeast.
Fiery avalanches of pumice and hot gasses (called pyroclastic flows) flowed into the valley north of the crater.
Fifty-seven (57) people were killed including USGS Scientist David Johnston, namesake of Johnston Ridge Observatory.
Elk, deer and other wildlife were obliterated.

It is not easy to define exactly what is in each of the following photos; therefore a chart of the area is shown above, so you can compare each of the photos below with the chart above.

Below: Ponder the dramatic change that took place on May 18, 1980, and the more subtle changes that have taken place each day since then. These photos were taken by the two RV Gypsies on May 14, 2009 almost 29 years to the day after the event.

IMAGINE: The lateral blast slammed into Johnston Ridge with such force that whole forests were knocked down and carried away.


Below: The stumps below tell a tale of the blast. These were once trees that stood 150 feet tall and were surrounded by a beautiful forest of green and growing trees.

Below: The north side of the mountain collapsed when the 5/1 magnitude earthquake rumbled beneath Mount St. Helens.

Below: Momentum carried part of the avalanche up and over Johnston Ridge, just a few hundred yards from these photos below.

Below: In less than 10 minutes, the avalanche swept 14 miles down the South Coldwater and North Toutle River Valleys.






Throughout time, many names have been given and many stories have been told about this mountain. In the 1700's Captain George Vancouver named it Mount St. Helens, after a British diplomat. The Cowlitz Indian people call her LAW-WE-LAT-KLAH, "Smoker", and through storytelling have passed down how the volcano came to be.....




Below: Lee Duquette on Johnston Ridge, elevation 4,314 feet - - and the snowy roads below Johnston Ridge

From the damaged area where Lee is standing, Mt. Saint Helens is actually another five miles straight ahead.


Forever changing over 200 square miles of rich forest land into a gray, lifeless landscape, the 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens has had an impact so powerful, you have to see it to believe it. The two RV Gypsies were totally in awe of the devastation that they observed. Live life to the fullest - tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone.